Another major company is set to relocate near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, days after Porsche broke ground on its new North American headquarters nearby.
Triumph Motorcycles said Thursday it will move from Newnan to the Hartsfield Centre office complex, relocating about 50 jobs to Atlanta. The British manufacturing company said it plans to add dozens more employees in the next five years.
Developers have long puzzled over why the downtrodden area around the airport has never transformed into an office hub while mini-cities have sprouted up around other aviation centers. Now, in the span of about a week, two major companies have put stakes in the ground at the airport.
“This relocation will create new jobs and build on the economic momentum created by Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport,” said Brian McGowan, who heads Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm.
Triumph had been seeking a new space for its North American headquarters for months to be closer to the airport, and worked with the commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley to sign an eight-year lease on a floor at the office hub. Company executives said the new site will make it easier to bring clients and distributors to a showroom and offices.
Cities have long stuck noisy factories and sprawling warehouses near airports, thinking that few other businesses would want to be so close. But companies yearning for more connectivity and easier commutes to the airport are rethinking the strategy.
Northern Virginia’s Dulles Airport is now surrounded by high-tech companies and retail centers. And the ranch land that once sprouted from the Dallas airport has become an office hub with almost as much commercial office space as the Dallas city center.
Dennis Martino, a printing executive in nearby Hapeville who sits on the board of the local chamber, said the long-predicted growth around Hartsfield-Jackson is on its way - and officials better start preparing.
“The airport area has nowhere to go but up,” he said. “I think it’s turned the corner and it’s waiting to soar. But it still has a long way to go - it’s going to be coming, so we have to control it.”
